Born in Geraldton, Jackie spent her childhood growing up on the beach. It was an absolute treasure trove of discovery with the abundant ocean, the rock pools, the ever-changing seasons and the beautiful colours.

Her dream was to become a commercial artist but upon leaving school I was sent off to Underwoods Business College to ensure I had a ‘sensible’ career. Following completion of the year, I worked at UWA Speech and Music Department for a year but found it unrewarding. I then set off on a ten-year sojourn of travel around Australia, New Zealand, the Mediterranean, Israel, Ireland, UK and Europe. I landed back in WA to the Gascoyne region where I spent six months prospecting for gold and then lay roots in Dampier where I lived for the next seven years.

Throughout that time I was always searching, however, never quite sure what it was I was looking for. Following on from my childhood dream, over the years I undertook multiple courses in drawing, water-colour painting, silk painting, textiles and even a full year of design at TAFE. I fully embraced each and every course and absolutely loved the solace I gained from getting in touch with my creative side, however, by this stage there was a mortgage, a wonderful family and every day life helped me to decide to put my dreams on hold.

Luckily around ten years ago after six months of reflection, I made the decision that it was definitely time to go back to basics of who and what I am –an artist. As my childhood dreams and aspirations had not changed but had only become stronger, I commenced painting classes and devoted my time to developing my own unique style. I have been extremely lucky to have such inspirational teachers who are very good at encouraging their students to develop their own individual style. I found myself spending hours in my spare time at home painting. Mostly with oils but acrylics also, I literally discovered my soul’s calling and found I didn’t want to do anything else. At last I had found my niche.